Chennai is world’s 6th cheapest city!

London has become the cheapest of the world’s major global centres, with the cost of living falling behind that of New York. A report by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) says that four Indian cities, including Chennai, are among the 10 cheapest places on the planet.

SUB-CONTINENT NOT FAR BEHIND

While Bengaluru is ranked the third cheapest in the world, Chennai figures in sixth place followed by Mumbai and New Delhi in the seventh and tenth positions.

COMMON REASONS

Affordable transportation, housing and a multisectoral economy are the primary reasons that make Chennai a relatively cheap place to live.’Although the Indian subcontinent remains structurally cheap, instability is becoming an increasingly prominent factor in lowering the relative cost of living of a location,’ the EIU said.

BLAME IT ON BREXIT

The change in London is entirely due to the Brexit-inspired 15 per cent fall in the pound’s fall since last June’s referendum to leave the European Union (EU).

ON LEVEL WITH BANGKOK

The pound’s fall has made prices in London much cheaper for foreign visitors, although not for local residents who earn their incomes in sterling. The EIU said London is cheaper than New York for the first time in 15 years, and that relative prices in Manchester have fallen so far that the cost of living in the city is now on a par with Bangkok.

SINGAPORE TO ALMATY

Meanwhile, the world’s most expensive city is Singapore, where average prices are 20 per cent higher than in New York and one-third more than in London. The city-state has long been the most expensive place in the world to buy and run a car, but the EIU said it is also the second-priciest destination in which to buy clothes. Almaty in Kazakhstan ranked as the cheapest city in the world.

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